


Choices Weighed in the Balance

by Cerridwen



Category: Star Trek: Alternate Original Series (Movies)
Genre: Gen, Minor Original Character(s), filling in the back story, melee on the USS Vengeance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-06-30
Updated: 2016-06-30
Packaged: 2018-07-19 06:17:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,870
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7348486
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Cerridwen/pseuds/Cerridwen
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>During the fight on the way to the bridge of the USS Vengeance Khan disappears. This is my look at what he was doing during that time and why he chose to go back for Kirk and Scotty.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Choices Weighed in the Balance

**Author's Note:**

> First posting of a fanfic and completely un-beta'ed. Any and all mistakes that you see are mine.
> 
> Special thanks to ProwlingThunder on Tumblr for help with the ending.

 

Khan moved down the hallway with Kirk and the man he called Scotty right behind him.

“Where is everyone?” the short man’s voice was a mixture of confusion and fear.

“This ship was designed to be flown by a minimal crew. One if necessary.” Khan kept his answer short and to the point, all the while calculating in the different factors that a small crew meant for their battle strategy. Of course Marcus had wanted to keep his number small. The less people who knew that he was planning to destroy his Starfleet’s flagship with all on board the better.

“One!” Scotty exclaimed just as a slight change in air pressure alerted Khan. He dodged the Section 31 agent who sprang from a branching corridor trying for the surprise attack. In that split second he recognised the man. Simmons! One of Marcus’ favourite strong men, one he’d allowed to try and break Khan with physical violence before Marcus had realised that the only thing Khan feared was for the safety of his crew.

A swift chop to neck of the inferior slab of meat left him gagging, unable to stop Khan from slamming his head into the wall before doubling him over with a controlled jab to the stomach. Grabbing his head Khan spun around and went to one knee, allowing his momentum to snap his opponent’s neck. Looking up he saw Kirk and Scotty backing away with fear on their faces.

A pang of regret stabbed through Khan, swiftly smothered. It had always been so among normal humans once they realized just what Khan and his people were truly capable of. There had been few normal humans who were superior enough to see and accept them completely as they were; to accept their darkness as well as their light. Those few, their husbands and their wives, were now resting in cryotubes alongside Khan’s brothers and sisters.

Kirk and Scotty’s fears were only to be expected. But Khan didn’t have time to reassure them now. More of Marcus’ foot soldiers were attacking. As Khan dealt with the five men coming at them from the front he heard thumps and blows behind him. He trusted Kirk to be able to hold them off long enough for Khan to defeat the greater threat here.

The man in front of him was quick; Khan had to give him that, ducking his blows before trying to land one of his own. But that was his mistake for it was easy for Khan to block and then deliver a strong punch to his chest, crushing bond and cartilage, sending shards into his enemy’s heart, killing him.

It felt good to let out some of his rage after all this time. A year of fear and desperation followed by soul-destroying grief and then unlooked for hope had worn down his normally iron-hard grip on his savagery. But now he had his enemies before him and allies behind. These monsters would learn the hard way the price of threatening Khan’s loved ones. If he had his way it would be the last lesson they ever learned.

With this thought blazing in his mind he didn’t bother to leash his strength as another fighter rushed Khan. One kick was all it took to send the man flying down the corridor several meters. Khan knew he wouldn’t be getting up again. Normal human bodies were so fragile, so easily broken that Khan knew he had caused so much internal damage with his blow that death was assured without immediate medical aid and there was none to be had on this battlefield.

He felt no pity for the man. Such was the fate that all soldiers faced and he was Khan’s enemy and his family’s enemy. There was no time to deliver the mercy strike either for another soldier came at Khan from a side corridor. This one had a phaser rifle in his hands, a foolish burden in this section of the ship as it couldn’t be fired. But it still had its uses. Khan grabbed it from the man’s hand and used the stock to smash the man to the floor. One more down. As he looked up he saw two more men sprinting off down the corridor, heading towards the controls that Khan knew would seal this section of the ship in case of hull breach. They had to be stopped. His blood singing battle-lust in his veins he glanced back quickly at his two comrades. They could handle the few remaining opponents. Kirk had already proven himself a fierce warrior on Qo’noS and was doing so again here. The other man, Scotty, though not as good as Kirk, was not helpless either, providing a distraction and hindrance to their enemies long enough for Kirk to bring them down.

Khan ran down the corridor after the two fleeing men. The head start they had wasn’t enough. Khan’s increased heart and lung capacity made for greater speed and the narrow aisles of the corridors made it impossible for the two men to run side by side. Khan sprang upon the trailing man and grabbed him by the back of the neck. Kicking the man’s feet out from under him he drove him head first into the floor. His added strength to the man’s momentum ensured that his skull shattered upon impact.

Looking up Khan saw that the second man had stopped running and had turned back. There was a look of horror on his face as he stared down at his dead companion. His expression changed to rage and fear as his eyes flicked back up at Khan rising to his feet. Khan let the man see his own rage. This one he recognised too; Chaplin. Another of Marcus’ vassals, he had been given authority over Khan during the designing of the Vengeance. He had often tormented Khan by threatening to destroy one of the cryotubes if Khan didn’t grovel to him, claiming that Marcus wouldn’t mind losing one or two more, or joking about what he would like to do to Khan’s sisters if he could have them awake and helpless.

By the look on his face he knew that he’d never make it to the door. Fumbling at this side he tried to reach for the hilt of a knife but Khan was on him before he could draw it.

Khan’s hand clamped down around the man’s wrist and squeezed. Chaplin’s scream as his bones were crushed under Khan’s hand was cut off as Khan grabbed his throat. With a single vicious snap another of his tormentors lay dead.

Khan dropped the body, his mind already turning to the safety of his crew.

Possible threats and scenarios flickered through his brain, each studied in the pattern in Khan’s mind. The few numbers of Marcus’ crew meant that it might be better to leave Kirk and Scotty behind. If he sealed them in this section they would be safe until he took over the ship and then came back for them. In terms of actual hand to hand combat they were more of a hindrance now then a help and time was of the essence.

But weighing against that was the unknown number of the Vengeance’s bridge crew. Khan didn’t know how many there were exactly and in a phaser fight, the number of guns mattered. Too many and even Khan might go down before their superior fire power, no matter how inferior their wielders. His people’s current exile was proof of that

Plus there was the future to be considered in the pattern. After the Vengeance was taken Khan’s crew would still be helpless on the Enterprise. They would still be prisoners in a Federation that hated and feared his people and they were without allies

Kirk. There was every sign that Kirk had it in him to be a superior person, one worthy of Khan’s respect. Kirk had spared him on Qo’noS, spared his crew though he didn’t know it at the time. Kirk had listened to him in the brig even though his first officer had advised against it, despite Khan having killed his friend, this man Pike. Kirk had still refused to turn him and his crew over to Marcus and had tried to protect them. Once the bridge was taken there was a chance that their alliance could continue. Yes Kirk had vowed to make Khan answer for what he had done and in all honesty he had to admit that he owed Kirk a debt.

He had made a mistake in his attack on Marcus at the Daystrom. Kirk’s accusation in the brig flashed through his mind.

“You are a murderer!”

He had thought all of Starfleet to be his enemy and while his target had been Marcus and the other admirals he had not thought that there any been innocent people in there. In his mind they were enemy soldiers, not innocent non-combatants that must be shielded.

Though Starfleet had struck against his family first his honour still demanded that he acknowledge the debt he owed Kirk. He didn’t regret the deaths of his enemies or the manner of his attack but he did regret the pain he had caused the innocent.

The pattern fell into place. Kirk had given him a chance even though he had reason not to. Khan would give him a chance in return. Kirk had shown he had a conscious and integrity, both rare traits in normal humans. More over Khan had never struck first nor betrayed an ally who had not done so first to him.

All of this flashed through Khan’s mind within heartbeats. Turning away from the hull controls he headed back toward where he had left Kirk and Scotty.

It didn’t take him long to find them. They certainly made enough noise. Khan turned down a corridor to see the two men looking frustrated.

“Where is he?” the engineer asked.

“Shit!” Kirk swore in frustration.

“This way.” Khan spoke quietly. As soon as they turned around he pulled the phaser that Kirk had given him from his belt and strode swiftly towards the corridor leading to the bridge. He moved just slowly enough for his two comrades to keep up. Time was running out for everyone on the Enterprise and Marcus’s men had delayed them too much as it was.

Khan strained all of his enhanced senses to catch any hint of further hostile movement. His mind registered the low voices of Kirk and Scotty speaking but filtered that out as they were known and trusted not to be a threat. It was the sounds of enemies that his mind searched for.

Behind him Kirk whispered to Scotty, “The minute we get to the bridge, drop him.”

“What? Stun him? Khan?” Scotty was flabbergasted.

“I thought he was helping us.”

“I’m pretty sure we’re helping him.” Kirk muttered. In his mind this was the only reason he could see for Khan helping them. Once Khan was done using them he would turn on them and that would put Kirk’s crew in danger. They had to take the pre-emptive first strike against him if the Enterprise and her crew were to survive.       

 

**Author's Note:**

> follow me on tumblr at http://khantoelessar.tumblr.com/


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